This is Halloween
by PFTones3482
Summary: "Adrien caught sight of Nino bounding over to them [...] The model yelped and promptly vanished, and for a moment Alya was bewildered. Then she caught sight of the bat clinging to Marinette's pigtails and she couldn't help but laugh, doubling over hard enough to stumble off her broom and onto the ground." In which everyone becomes what they're dressed as. Three shot.
1. Chapter 1

**So I realized that this is somewhat similar to my Chatman story, but I figured it was different enough that it didn't really matter. I'm posting part one of this today because it is my lovely friend Megan's birthday and she drew art for vampire Adrien on her tumblr art blog, azure-arts. Happy birthday my love.**

 **I don't own Miraculous Ladybug. Cross-posted to AO3 under TakingOverMidnight3482.**

* * *

Though Halloween wasn't a major holiday that was celebrated in France, that particular year Marinette's class had been learning bits and pieces of American history, the tradition of All Hallows Eve being one of them, and their teacher had thought it would be fun if they were to dress up on Halloween like the American kids would have. They had even managed to organize an entire school dance, like an American school might, complete with a DJ and costume contest.

Hence why, on the 31st of October, Marinette was dressed up like a marionette, complete with strings and a control stick dangling down her back. She and Tikki had giggled over the play on her name while she did her makeup, drawing a cupids bow over her mouth and settling fake eyelashes onto her lids. Her hair had already been curled into ringlets that hugged her face and bounced as she moved, the bottom of her hairline ending just at her chin and fake bolts etched onto the joints of her body that were visible.

The look was complete with a raggedy outfit, patches sewn in strategic locations over an older brown dress Marinette had dangling in her closet from a catering event over a year ago.

"What do you think?" she asked Tikki, spinning in a circle and then promptly stopping to fix the strings on her back before they tangled.

Tikki clapped in delight, face lit up in a smile. "It's perfect, Marinette! Alya will love it, and so will Adrien, I'm sure!"

Marinette smiled weakly and opened up her backpack. "I hope so. My purse doesn't go with this, though, so I put your cookies in my backpack for today."

Tikki squealed and dove into the confines of the bag and Marinette zipped it nearly all the way shut, leaving just a small hole open to allow air circulation for the Kwami. Slinging the bag over one shoulder carefully so as not to ruin the string and wood sewn to the back of her dress, she grabbed her house keys, shut off her light, and hurried down the stairs.

" _Bon matin, Mama,_ " she said cheerfully, hopping down into the bakery and snatching a still warm roll from the pan in her mother's hands.

Sabine laughed and kissed Marinette on the scalp, holding the tray out of the reach of her daughter's grabbing hands. The woman was dressed for the occasion as well, having gotten into the spirit when Marinette had detailed her school assignment to her. She wore a deep, ivy green colored gown that trailed against the floor and a small set of fairy wings adorned her back. " _Bonjour,_ Marinette. Turn. Let me see."

She spun her hand in a circular motion and Marinette obliged, turning for her mother slowly so that she could see her whole costume.

Sabine tisked and reached out, tugging lightly on the wood. "Won't this get in your way?"

Marinette shrugged, gripping her bag with one hand. "Probably. But I don't know what else to do with it."

Sabine pursed her lips and studied the wood for a moment before lifting it up and tucking it over Marinette's free shoulder, setting the rolls down to have better access to it. "Here. Put it over this shoulder, and add a safety pin, and…there! It should stay."

She stepped back and Marinette turned again, grinning when the wood stayed in place, not smacking against the back of her knees. " _Merci, Mama!_ "

Sabine chuckled. "Of course, honey. Did you hear? Your school called to ask us to cater the party tonight. Apparently Chloe is on the committee for the party and she really enjoyed the assignment and she knew we would be able to whip some treats up quickly."

Marinette raised a skeptical eyebrow. "I'm sorry, did you say _Chloe_ enjoyed an assignment? And actually took the initiative to _call you_ for something?"

Sabine laughed and ruffled her daughter's hair, ignoring the girl's protests. "Shush. Go to school. We'll see you later and you can help us finish up the order for tonight, okay?"

Marinette rolled her eyes, agreed, kissed her mother on the cheek while simultaneously stealing another roll, and darted out the door and across the square to school.

She had a very good feeling about today.

* * *

Adrien hated this school assignment. He had always loved school, always found American history interesting, if brutal and unethical, but he despised this particular assignment.

He scowled at his image in the mirror, ignoring the Kwami hovering over his shoulder. "I look like a dead model," he grumbled, crossing his arms over each other.

Plagg winced, unable to protest with the boy. "You know your father is just trying to maintain your image."

It sounded feeble even to his advanced hearing, and Adrien snorted, fingering at the dark green cape he had draped around his shoulders.

His father had allowed him to dress up for the Halloween party, provided that he do two things: one, not look utterly atrocious, and two, model some of the new fall line of Agreste clothing.

Which basically meant Adrien had had no choice but to be a very stylish vampire in a green suit. The only hint that he was even supposed to be a vampire, actually, was the cape around his shoulders and the fake fangs in his mouth. He had tosseled his hair just a little, but too much would be both unruly to his father and make him look too much like Chat Noir, so he had to settle for how it was. The only other makeup his father had allowed was a light dusting of pale face crème.

He adjusted the tie around his neck, pulling it from strangling to somewhat choking, and then adjusted his suit jacket, sighing and slumping where he stood.

"I look stupid, Plagg."

Plagg frowned and sank down onto the boy's shoulder. "No you don't. Fancy, yeah. Not stupid."

"Stupid."

He had really wanted to dress up as some kind of superhero, but he had thought the mask might give him away too easily as Chat. Before he could think of something else, his father had set his foot down and now he was stuck as a very boring, if incredibly well dressed, vampire.

All of him was shouting to skip, but he desperately wanted to see Nino and the girls' costumes, and he didn't want to be stuck at home all day or give his father yet another reason to revoke his school privileges.

"Whatever," Adrien grumbled around the plastic teeth that seemed to encourage saliva to come out of the depths of hiding. "Let's just go."

Plagg obliged, crawling into the inside pocket on Adrien's jacket, and Adrien grabbed his backpack and stormed down the stairs, fixing his posture rapidly when he spotted Nathalie and the Gorilla waiting for him at the door.

"Adrien," the woman said formally, nodding to him and handing over his schedule for the day.

Adrien gave her a weak smile and shifted the cape on his back, waiting as the Gorilla opened the door.

"Don't forget, your father is requiring you to attend the school dance tonight in order to advertise the new fall line."

"Of course he is," Adrien muttered under his breath.

"Pardon?"

Flashing the woman a very fake, toothy smile, Adrien hefted his bag onto his shoulder and tilted his head at her. "I said…of course I will. Thanks. Have a good day, Nathalie."

She nodded at him and Adrien practically flew out the door after Gorilla, who he had managed to convince to dress up as an actual gorilla for the costume party that night (despite his stoic appearance on the outside, Adrien had found that the man was actually quite playful and even had two young children at home).

As much as he hated his own outfit, Adrien couldn't help but smile a little as Gorilla held the door for him.

He couldn't wait to see what everyone else was dressed as.

* * *

"Oh my _god_ , girl, you look incredible!" Alya squealed, fingers clasped together as her eyes roved down Marinette's costume, taking in every detail greedily.

"Thanks, but so do you!" Marinette protested, gesturing at Alya's own outfit.

The girl wore a crimson red dress that fell to her heels, allowing her flats to poke out from underneath the black lace covered hem. The middle bonded in a black silk, ribbon tied corset, emphasizing her chest and making it difficult for her to bend over. The sleeves were long, ending just at her wrists with more black lace that matched the hem of her dress.

On her head sat a witch's hat, something both girls knew she would have to take off during class, and in one hand she held an old broomstick that she had dug from the depths of her attic. A deep purple and black cape fell from her shoulders, dusting the ground behind her and making her appear like she was floating.

They stopped squealing as Chloe walked by, hair done up in a bun and a bright yellow mermaid tail dress curving down her body. Other than the very elaborate makeup and seashell jewelry, it appeared that she hadn't dressed up.

"Chloe?" Alya called. "What are you supposed to be?"

The girl scoffed, stepping towards them delicately. "I'm a _mermaid_ , silly girl. I plan to sing Adrien to my grasps so that way he'll be mine forever."

She sighed deeply and strutted off, meeting up with Sabrina at the doorway, the girl dressed as a tabby cat.

"Doesn't she mean a siren?" Marinette questioned, raising an eyebrow. "They lured people with singing, not mermaids."

"With her, it's just a lot of screeching anyway."

They giggled, turning as they heard Nino's voice call out to them. He trotted over, waving, and the girls couldn't help but grin more at the sight of his outfit, the fake ears perched on his head and the fake fur that speckled his person. He wore gloves that looked like paws, and Marinette shook her head as he ventured up.

"Are you a werewolf?" she guessed, her words bubbling with laughter.

Nino gave her a fake smile, eyes twinkling, and nodded. "Yeah. Wasn't much else I could pull off on such a short notice."

"You had fur laying around on short notice?" Alya inquired, one eyebrow arching in bewilderment.

Nino snorted. "My mom's a vet, Alya."

"Ew."

Ignoring the comment, Nino glanced behind him and frowned, forehead scrunching up. "Hey, so Adrien's dad was being an ass and he told Adrien the only way he could dress up was to model their new line of fall clothes. So he's like…a really modern vampire. Just so you know."

"That stinks," Alya muttered, stomping her broom into the ground and glaring in the general direction of the Agreste mansion. "What did he want to dress up as?"

Nino shrugged, scratching at the fur on his forearm. "Some kind of superhero. I'm not sure which. But his dad was dead set against it. No vampire pun intended."

The girls nodded knowingly and turned as Adrien's limo pulled up out front of the school. The back door popped open and Adrien stepped out, one hand dragging his bag after him and his eyes cast to the ground as he said something to his driver.

Marinette sucked in a quick breath, eyes snaking over his outfit, and she promptly blushed and looked away when she heard Alya and Nino chuckle. "Shush, he looks good."

"Tell him that," Alya said, nudging the girl as Adrien trotted over to them.

He gave a halfhearted wave, trying for a smile. "Hey. You guys all look fantastic," he said sincerely. "I love the costumes."

"Yours is good too," Marinette managed, giving him a weak smile and gesturing to his outfit.

Adrien rolled his eyes and shifted both the cape and the backpack. "Thanks, but it's really not that great. You look amazing though; did you make the dress?"

Marinette practically squeaked as she nodded, smoothing down the dress with her hands in order to hide how they were shaking. "Y-yes. Thank you."

Adrien smiled warmly at her and the group turned to go inside as the bell rang, Nino and Alya promptly taking the lead so that Chloe wouldn't tackle Adrien upon entering and leaving Marinette to walk alongside the boy.

"I really do like the outfit," she murmured after a moment, her fingers tightening around her backpack straps. "It um…it looks good on you."

Adrien ducked his head, rubbing a hand down the cape. "Well…thank you, Marinette. I suppose it could be worse. I could have been forbidden from dressing up at all, so fake teeth and a cape aren't the worst that could've happened."

"You pull off the modern vampire look very well."

She nearly slapped her hands over her mouth, missing the way Adrien chuckled at her commentary. "Thanks, Marinette. I appreciate it."

They trooped into the classroom together and everyone promptly flinched as Chloe's shriek rang across the room, deafening everyone in a two-mile radius.

"ADRIKINS! COME LOOK AT MY COSTUME!"

"She should've been a banshee," Marinette muttered.

Adrien couldn't help but agree.

* * *

The set up for the dance started directly after school, and Marinette had volunteered to help with last minute preparations before she ran home to help her parents. Alya was staying until the party, so that she could document everything for the school paper with Ivan, and she pitched in a few times as well.

It was while they were helping to sew a dark black and purple curtain back together that they heard Chloe in the back room, speaking to the student who was in charge of running the costume contest.

"What do you _mean,_ you won't do it?" the blonde was hissing.

The other girl, a very petite American exchange student who actually knew a lot about Halloween and had been an incredible help with debunking myths, stood her ground, fingers curled into fists and eyes narrowed. "I mean," she said in nearly perfect French that Marinette had helped her with a few times, "that I'm not declaring you the winner no matter what. You have to win on your own, Chloe. That's how it goes."

Chloe's face was an unnatural shade of red against the yellow of her dress, and Marinette knew from experience that the girl wasn't used to having people, particularly not exchange students, stand up to her.

"Do you understand that I can get you deported and sent home like that?" the girl demanded, snapping her fingers in the American's face.

Still she held her ground, smooth eyebrow lifted on her head as she crossed her arms over her chest and gave Chloe a sneer. "Do you understand that I'm here on school grounds, and that the only way I could be sent home would be to commit a serious felony on school property? Get out, Chloe. I don't need your help for the rest of this."

Chloe spun and stormed off as gracefully as she could in the dress she wore, and the American promptly sat down on a stepladder that they had been using to hang streamers with, head in her hands.

Alya and Marinette glanced at one another and Alya stepped over, skirt swaying as she knelt next to the girl. "Um…Clara, right?"

The student lifted her head, black and teal locks falling across her face as she studied Alya. "Yeah. You're Alya. You run the Ladyblog."

Alya grinned and nodded, tilting her head in Chloe's direction. "Good on you, standing up to her. She's a bitch and you definitely put her in her place."

Clara shrugged, sitting up straight and running her fingers through her hair. "Thanks. I'm just worried she'll get me expelled. I'm only here a semester; I'd hate to leave before January because of some snob."

Marinette laughed, climbing to her feet and dusting her skirt off. "She can't do anything. Her father doesn't control the exchange students. Do you need any more help with decorations?"

Clara glanced at the hemmed curtain, then up at the rest of the gymnasium, eyes perusing the decorations. "We should be okay. I just need to find the rest of the pumpkins. I know your parents are catering, you should go help them."

Marinette nodded and bid the two of them goodbye, grabbing her backpack from where she had set it in the corner and darting home in order to help her mother and father with the last of the baking.

Tikki poked her head out on the way home, looking a tad nauseous. "What are you going to do if there's an akuma tonight?" she asked. "That's a small gym, and it'll be very crowded."

Marinette sighed, pausing outside the bakery to catch her breath and poke Tikki back into the bag. "Honestly, I'm just hoping everything goes smoothly."

* * *

Everything was very much _not_ going smoothly.

The punch had spilled all over the floor, people kept pulling the streamers down, and someone had tried to make off with an entire tray of cookies, which Tom had put a stop to quickly. His bear costume kind of deterred anyone from trying something with him around, not because it was super scary, but because it was very wide and very cumbersome and no one wanted to smack into a flailing paw.

Marinette was dancing alongside Alya and the boys when Clara got up on stage, followed by three school teachers who had been elected to help out at the dance. The DJ cut out slowly and Clara grabbed for a microphone.

" _Bon soir,_ everyone," the girl chuckled, wizard hat sparkling under the low lights. "I hope everyone is having fun!"

Cheers went up around the room and Clara grinned. "Fantastic! In a few minutes, we'll be starting the costume contest, so anyone who would like to enter should go sign up in the corner over there."

She gestured to a teacher in the far corner who sat alongside a table and a sign-up sheet.

"You should sign up!" Adrien called over the music that had started back up, directing his comment at Marinette and Alya. "You both look incredible!"

If Marinette hadn't been wearing makeup, her face would have been bright red. "Thank you, but I don't really do crowds!" she shouted back to him.

Nino nudged Alya, his grin wicked. "Alya is totally gonna win it."

Alya snorted. "I didn't even sign up, you moron."

Nino smile grew wider and Alya shrieked, looking between his and Adrien's equal smirks. "You did NOT!"

Adrien laughed. "We signed you up because you totally deserve it. Marinette, we knew you weren't a fan of crowds so we decided to ask first."

"You _assholes!_ "

Ignoring Alya's laughing protests, Nino dragged her off towards the edge of the stage so that she could go up more easily when called. Marinette giggled, running her hands down her skirt and tapping at the inner pocket she had thrown in last minute, checking to make sure Tikki was okay. She couldn't sit with Tikki in the pocket, which was why she hadn't used it in class.

Tikki tapped back, assuring the girl she was fine. Marinette looked up to find Adrien watching her, a curious look on his face, and she managed a smile. "I think it's um…it's nice you and Nino signed Alya up."

Adrien grinned, glancing towards the two. "Yeah, well, he kinda has a crush on her and I figured this might give him a chance to hang with her. Plus, she'll totally win."

Catching Marinette's look, he laughed. "What?"

"You did all this because he has a crush on her?"

Adrien opened his mouth to answer but was cut off by Clara returning to the stage, robe billowing dramatically as she walked.

"Okay!" she called out over the crowd. "We're going to bring everyone on stage, and show them off, and how we decide a winner is based on two things: which person the judges like best, and which person you guys, as the audience, vote for. There are ballots all over the place, and we'll have them counted within the hour. That means there can be at least two winners, so make sure you vote!"

The whole thing went by in a blur for Marinette, because she knew without a doubt that she was voting for Alya. Ivan had a very good Frankenstein's monster costume, and Marinette knew Mylène had probably convinced him to enter, because she stood at the edge of the stage in her princess costume clapping the whole time.

She and Adrien, along with most people, had already voted before all the names were even announced, and so when Alya and Nino found their way back to them they were standing around the snacks, drinking punch and talking to Marinette's mother.

Alya was wringing her hands around her broomstick, witch hat perched precariously on her scalp in such a way that it appeared like she was tilting her head. "Did I do okay?" she asked, teeth worrying at her lower lip.

Sabine wrapped an arm around the girl, careful not to smack her with her fairy wings, and squeezed her shoulders gently. "You were wonderful, sweetheart. You're sure to win."

Alya flushed under the woman's praise, and Marinette and Adrien both echoed the sentiment enthusiastically.

Marinette excused herself to help her mother with the extra snacks they had laid out in the school kitchen, assuring Alya that she would be back in time for the judging and announcement of the winners.

"How many more do we need?" Marinette asked, bustling around the kitchen and pulling the plastic wrap from the trays of cookies.

Sabine pursed her lips, eyes roving over the cookies and face scrunching up as she counted in her head. "Two more pans should be enough for the next hour or so. We want to make sure to space them out so that we-"

Her voice cut out abruptly and Marinette frowned, her fingers still working on the cookies. "What was that?"

When Sabine didn't answer, Marinette turned to see what had distracted her mother, only to fall to the ground in a very undignified heap with a shout that could probably be heard all the way down the hall.

At the last moment she twisted to land on her right side so that she wouldn't squish Tikki, her limbs sprawling every which way and her head smacking into the floor.

Strangely, it didn't hurt, which Marinette assumed was because she had cracked her head open and was now bleeding to death on the floor. She didn't smell blood, though, and her mother had all but vanished, which was bizarre in and of itself.

Struggling to push herself up, Marinette found that her limbs weren't quite functioning the right way; she could move them of her own free will, but she had a hard time putting weight on them and getting them under her.

A sinking feeling had started in the pit of her stomach, her mind slowly drifting to the word "akuma," and it was confirmed when she twisted her head and found that her elbows were held together with actual nuts and bolts. Her skin appeared to be plastic like, though when she touched it she still felt normal.

The girl groaned as everything came crashing down- literally.

Marinette fell face down onto the ground as the bolt slipped from her right elbow, arm promptly falling off and out from under her, and she sighed into the linoleum.

"Great," she grumbled. "Just great. An akuma that made me into my Halloween costume. Wonder what Chloe did this time."

"She pushed Clara off the stage is what she did," Nino said, crouching down next to her, Alya at his side. His eyebrows furrowed as he took in her state, and Marinette was startled to realize that all of the hair he had glued to himself was now actually growing from his body. "How in the-?"

"Here," Alya said, kneeling down and picking up the bolt from the ground. "I assume this is the problem."

Marinette flushed, or at least it felt like she did, as Alya screwed the bolt into place, Nino holding the arm steady until Marinette was able to pull herself to her feet, leaning on Alya's shoulder as she did so.

"Did you guys see my mother?" she asked anxiously, eyes darting around the room.

Nino grimaced and pointed over at the counter. "The uh…the fairy wings are apparently what the spell went with."

Marinette followed his finger- which had claws on the end of them, she realized- to see her mother slumped against one of the cookie trays, apparently having been knocked unconscious, wings folded behind her.

"Is she-?"

"She's fine," Alya assured her. "I checked when we came in. Everyone else is freaking. I hope Ladybug and Chat get here soon."

"Wait," Marinette said suddenly, standing up a little straighter and ignoring her wobbling knees. "Where's Adrien?"

"He's fine," Nino promised. "After Clara got akumatized, he went to go make sure everyone was okay. Everyone got turned into what they're dressed as, but it doesn't seem like anyone is like…what's the word?"

"Acting like what they're dressed as," Alya answered. "Like, I don't feel like hexing people. And Ivan still has complete control over his words. But I don't know how long that's going to last for."

Marinette sighed and pressed a hand to her forehead. "Okay. Let me just…move my mother and then I'll meet you guys in the hallway."

"You sure?" Alya asked. "You seem kind of…wobbly."

Marinette shot her a glare and the girl backed off, one hand in the air and the other holding onto her broomstick like a weapon, as if she was afraid Marinette might smack her.

With Nino alongside her, she left the kitchen. Marinette turned to her mother, taking slow, careful steps so as not to fall back onto her face.

She moved her mother gently, cradling the woman in her hands and being careful not to crush the wings on her back. She didn't know if it would hurt her or not, so Marinette figured it was best not to test fate.

Settling her mother onto an oven mitt on the counter, Marinette turned from her sleeping form to open up her inner pocket, leaning heavily on the counter so as not to fall over and hoping that as Ladybug she would be at least somewhat normal.

"Okay, Tikki. Transform me!"

Nothing happened and for a split second Marinette panicked, thinking that maybe her earrings had fallen out when she had hit the floor. Upon reaching up to her earlobes, however, she found that this was not the case, and assumed that Tikki must be asleep.

"Tikki, come on," she muttered, opening the pocket wider and slipping her hand in, wary of the bolts that held her hand to her wrist.

Tikki wasn't there.

Full on in panic mode now, Marinette tucked her hand into the pocket, feeling for a hole, a gash, anything that might have caused Tikki to fall out.

Something tickled at her fingers and Marinette nearly flung her hand across the room, literally, as she pulled from her pocket one very small, very useless, ladybug.

Across the school, leaned against the sink in the boy's bathroom with fangs slipping over the edges of his lips and eyes blocked from the fluorescent lighting with his cape, Adrien stared down at the tiny black kitten that was curled up inside of his jacket pocket.

"Shit."

* * *

 **This will be a three shot, which I'll update hopefully next weekend and then finish on Halloween.**

 **Edit: I have been informed that they do celebrate Halloween in France. I'm probs not gonna go back and change anything just because they're celebrating a traditional "American" Halloween as part of their curriculum. But thank you to everyone who corrected me.**

 **Reviews are much appreciated!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Part Two! Part three coming next Monday on Halloween!**

 **Kinsutenekochan: That would be this chapter!**

 **Saberstorm: Actually, he could, provided he could break through her skin. While she has the outer appearance and feeling of a marionette, she is not actually made of wood or plastic. But her skin is too tough for even his fangs to break through, so she's safe. Alya and Nino, however...**

 **Myrna Maeve: You'll see in this chapter why that's impossible lol.**

 **I don't own Miraculous Ladybug. Cross-posted to my AO3 account TakingOverMidnight3482.**

* * *

 _Across the school, leaned against the sink in the boy's bathroom with fangs slipping over the edges of his lips and eyes blocked from the fluorescent lighting with his cape, Adrien stared down at the tiny black kitten that was curled up inside of his jacket pocket._

 _"Shit."_

* * *

After securing what she assumed was Tikki inside of a glass jar covered with plastic wrap and poked with holes, Marinette managed to make her way out of the kitchen and into the hallway, using the wall to guide her and keep her from falling over.

She could _feel_ the screw in her knee coming loose, so when she caught sight of Nino outside she called for him to hold her up while she tightened it.

"You take care of your mom?" he asked, his voice a tad more guttural than usual.

Marinette looked up at him with furrowed eyebrows. "Yeah," she assured, studying the glaze over his eyes and the sheen of sweat that was beading on his forehead. "Are you okay?"

Nino swallowed, Adam's apple bobbing, and pressed a hand to his head. "I don't know. Maybe I ate too much. I just…feel terrible."

Marinette winced and wrapped an arm around his waist, holding him up almost as much as he was her, and he helped her step over to where Alya was sitting on her broomstick, floating in midair, and reassuring a very panicked Griffin looking thing that they would be fine.

"How did you do that?" Marinette asked the girl, gesturing to the broomstick as she and Nino stopped moving.

Alya shrugged, the action making her sink a little bit in the air, and she twisted on the stick, ankles hooked together. "I don't know. It just…happened. Feels natural. You seen Adrien?"

Nino shook his head, his stance growing heavier and more sweat sliding down his face. "N-no. I think he went to the uh…went to the bathroom."

"You okay?" Alya asked in concern, hopping off the broomstick and moving over to him, resting a hand on the teen's forehead.

Marinette smiled thinly as Nino's cheeks went bright red, not from his sweating, and she glanced away in time to spot Adrien striding down the hallway quickly, eyes mildly panicked and cape billowing behind him.

"There you are!" Marinette said, hoping to put some of the pressure off of Nino, who looked like he was dying.

Adrien moved to respond when suddenly there was the tiniest meow from his pocket. He flinched at their looks and reached into his jacket, pulling out a sleepy looking black kitten. Alya instantly squealed and pulled it into her hands, ignoring Adrien's splutters of protest. "Oh my _goodness,_ where did you find him?"

"Uh…in the hall. He might be a student, he might be a stray. I um…I don't…whoa, Nino, you okay?"

They turned to look at Nino, who had become incredibly heavy against Marinette's side and honestly looked like he was about to throw up. "I…I don't think so."

With no warning, he bolted, leaving Marinette to crumple to the floor with a yelp as he hightailed it out the front of the school doors.

Adrien instantly knelt next to Marinette, checking her over quickly before looking up at Alya. "Can you go make sure he's okay?" he asked. "I'll stay with Mari."

Alya nodded, swung her leg over her broomstick, and vanished down the hall with the kitten still clutched to her body, which Adrien didn't realize until she was already gone.

"Shit," he muttered under his breath as he helped Marinette off the floor. "She took the cat."

"Is that a…bad thing?" Marinette grunted as he pulled her up. "She loves animals."

Adrien hesitated, looking back towards the front doors with a concerned gaze, and then shook his head. "Pl- the cat will be fine. I'm just…more worried about Nino. I don't know what's wrong with him."

Marinette almost face palmed. "Jesus, he's dressed as a _werewolf._ "

Adrien went paler than he already was, which was a difficult feat to accomplish, and he whipped his head back to the front door. "Alya and the cat…should we be worried?"

Marinette shook her head very slowly, shuffling so that she wasn't putting all of her weight onto Adrien. "I don't think so. You don't have an urge to start sucking blood, right?"

Adrien shook his head instantly, face scrunching up in disgust and unintentionally baring his fangs. "No way."

"Then we should be fine. I wish Chat Noir would show up. Maybe then we could figure out how to stop this."

Adrien shot her a curious look. "Why not Ladybug?"

She froze for a moment before waving a hand dismissively. "We were um…talking about the cat. So he was the first one I thought of. I feel like if Ladybug was going to show, she would have already."

"Same with Chat Noir," Adrien grumbled, looking back to the doors again.

"Looks like we might be on our own for this one."

With a deep sigh, Adrien wrapped an arm around Marinette's waist, missing her blush, and started leading her towards the gymnasium.

"Looks like."

* * *

"Nino?" Alya called out softly, stepping off of her broom and leaning it against the school building, the kitten still cradled in her arms now very alert. "Are you okay?"

There was no response and Alya bit her lip in worry, starting as the cat suddenly leapt from her hands and hit the ground running, bright green eyes clearly visible in the night. Alya chased after him quickly, worried he would get hurt somehow, but slowed when she realized that he had stopped alongside the corner of the school. He was now sitting on his haunches silently and looking up at Alya with eyes that were far too intelligent for her comfort.

She stepped around him slowly, satisfied that he wouldn't run off again, and winced at the sight of Nino, hunched over on his hands and knees with his fingers digging into the grass.

"Nino?"

He flinched at her voice, body dimmed with the lack of light around them. "Go away," he grunted, arms trembling with the effort of staying upright.

Alya glanced back at the kitten, who almost seemed to nod in Nino's general direction before very pointedly licking its paw. "Are you okay?" she tried, very much knowing the answer.

Nino huffed, unamused, and a low whine spilled from his throat, scaring Alya just a little bit. "Alya, _please_ ," he managed, voice guttural.

She struggled to figure out what was going on, looking from the cat and back to Nino and then glancing down at herself before the thought finally registered in her head. "Oh, _shit_ ," she hissed, darting over to him and kneeling down at his side. "Nino, I-"

He shook off her hand, shoulders hunching over his ears and his head tilting away from her. "Alya," he practically whimpered.

It wasn't a tone that was asking her to leave anymore; he sounded scared this time, and Alya realized that the poor kid was probably in a lot of pain, something he hadn't expected from the night at all. She settled down alongside him, crossing her legs under her, and rubbed a soothing hand along his back. "You're okay," she murmured. "You're okay."

Nino managed a nod, swallowing loudly enough for Alya to hear, and then shuddered under her touch, his body spasming so hard that he hit the grass, elbows tucked under him to keep his chin from smacking into the ground.

Alya crouched on her knees, glancing away ever so slightly as she watched the muscles on the back of his neck clench and shift, struggling not to show the teen under her how terrified she really was. She didn't know what he would look like if he actually transformed, if he would be consciously human or wolf or something in between.

But Nino was obviously more freaked; she hadn't changed much aside from now being able to fly around on a broom and, presumably, cast spells.

He had gotten the short end of the stick, if the way he was retching into the grass was any indication. She grimaced and threaded her fingers gently into the hair at the nape of his neck, which was growing longer even as she watched.

The cat moved until it was settled just under her elbow, nudging its nose up against her sleeve and pushing her hand further up Nino's head. Though confused by the action, the movement seemed to relax Nino at least a little bit, so she continued, running her nails down his scalp and squeezing her eyes shut as she felt the skull underneath his skin start to shift and change.

Honestly, she wasn't sure how much time passed. She just kept scratching, kept her eyes shut, felt the kitten under her arm, and eventually Nino collapsed next to her fully, his breathing heavy and exhausted. She finally pushed herself to open her eyes because her fingers were no longer entangled in hair, but in fur.

And holy _shit_ , it was weird to be petting a wolf, especially when she knew that it was one of her best friends, and it was kind of freaky, but when he lifted his tired gaze to hers Alya relaxed, picking out the humanity and fear in his look.

The fur matched his hair color exactly, and Alya subconsciously dug her fingers into it, scratching the burning surface gently and grinning as Nino whined in the back of his throat.

"You good?" she asked softly, carefully, treading over her words and shifting a little; her butt had gone numb almost ten minutes ago.

Nino snorted, eyes closing and chin resting on his paws for a moment as he concentrated, trying to breathe the right way and calm his pounding heart. Alya took that as a "kind of" and continued petting.

She froze when the kitten clambered up her arm and curled up on top of Nino, her eyes darting between Nino's confused look and the contentness of the cat, but when Nino just huffed and ignored it, she couldn't help but smile.

"You know, this would be adorable on Snapchat."

Nino shot her a glare and Alya giggled at the look, standing up carefully and wobbling a bit as pins and needles settled into her legs.

Before she could even stumble, however, Nino was on his feet, pressing his head to the back of her knees and steadying her. Somehow, the kitten remained on his back, still curled up and not even phased by the sudden shifting of the wolf under him.

"Thanks," Alya murmured, glancing back at her friend and giving him a wry smile. "You okay to go back inside, help Marinette and Adrien?"

Nino whined, backing away from her and tucking his tail between his legs, head dropping. Alya frowned and stepped back over to him, kneeling and lifting a hand to scratch under his chin without thinking.

"It'll be fine," she assured him, nails curling over his fur. "They won't say anything bad. Promise."

Nino lifted his eyes to hers, gaze wary, and he dipped his head once, which Alya took to mean that he would come with her. She stood up straight again and turned, walking back to where she had left her broom. Nino waited patiently while she straddled the broom, tail flicking back and forth ever so slightly and the cat on his back starting to purr.

"Ready?"

Nino huffed and started forward, Alya floating alongside him.

She was amazed at how large he was; she had never seen a wolf up close, had always assumed that they were maybe the size of Retrievers or St. Bernard's, but his head stopped just at her chest, even in her heels, and his paws were nearly as large as her face.

She didn't realize she was staring until the end of her broomstick smacked into the school doors and nearly sent her tumbling to the ground, Nino's teeth in the back of her cape the only thing keeping her from falling.

Alya flushed, thanked him softly, and then reached out to open the doors. Before her hands had even touched the handle, however, the doors swung open with a gentle gust of wind. No one was on the other side that could have opened them, and Alya looked down at her hand slowly, clenching it into a fist. "Was that…?"

Nino chuffed at her, his eyes sparkling, and Alya shook it off, gliding through the halls with Nino trotting alongside her. Most of the students were still in the gymnasium, and for the most part they had calmed down. All of them kept eyeing the stage warily though, and when Alya looked up to see what was going on, her breath caught.

She didn't like Chloe even a little, but to pretend that she wasn't a little horrified to see the girl in the state she was, mouth duct taped and hands tied to the end of her tail, was completely false. Her eyes were furious, but held hints of fear as well, which made Alya feel bad for her for once.

Clara hovered on stage, eyes an evil purple and wand sparking in her hand as she stood guard over the mass of students.

A bat flew over Alya's head, making the girl duck, and she caught sight of Marinette and Adrien standing along the wall, Marinette with both hands on either side of Adrien's shoulders and talking in a low voice.

"That way," she directed Nino, but he was already going, nose twitching and paws taking him in the direction of their friends.

As they got closer Alya realized with mild horror that the strings that were attached to Marinette's back actually sunk into her skin, and she realized that that was why the girl was having such a hard time moving; she had no one to control her.

All of that flew from her head, however, when Adrien caught sight of Nino bounding over to them, cat _still_ somehow on his back. The model yelped and promptly vanished, and for a moment Alya was bewildered.

Then she caught sight of the bat clinging to Marinette's pigtails and she couldn't help but laugh, doubling over hard enough to stumble off her broom and onto the ground, holding up two hands as Marinette backed against the wall.

"G-guys," she wheezed a little too hard. "Chill. It's just…it's just Nino."

Marinette relaxed and Adrien promptly appeared next to her, looking very embarrassed. "Oh."

His gaze traced over Nino slowly and a grin slid across his lips. " _Dude_ , that is awesome."

Nino ducked his head bashfully and Alya leaned over, plucking the cat off of his back and handing him back to Adrien. "Here. Since you seem so attached to him. I think maybe he's a student. He seems really smart; basically led me to Nino."

Adrien frowned, glancing down at the cat, and the animal seemed to almost _grin_ at him, eyes glittering mischievously. Adrien rolled his eyes and handed the cat back to Alya. "He's not a student," he muttered. "And I think maybe you should hold onto him for now. He won't go far."

Though she questioned how Adrien would know any of that, Alya obliged, settling the kitten onto her still floating broom and letting him roam the stick. "Guys, where are Ladybug and Chat?" she asked anxiously. "I mean…Clara isn't really _doing_ anything, but I don't want to wait until she gets too impatient."

Marinette pursed her lips, glancing around the room. "Adrien and I think we might be stuck without their help. They haven't shown up yet."

"Bull shit," Alya snapped. "They wouldn't just abandon us, and there's never been more than one akuma at a time, so they can't be held up with something else. I don't know about you guys, but I don't want to be stuck as a witch for the rest of my life…as cool as it is."

Marinette threw her arms out, promptly sending one of them flying across the room. Nino barked once and was off, darting through the crowds with tail wagging as Adrien knelt to pick up the bolt that had fallen out.

"You think _you_ have problems," Marinette grumbled. "I literally keep falling apart."

Alya slumped, running a hand over her head. "I'm sorry, Mari. I just…Nino's already turned into a wolf. Adrien, you're turning into a bat. How long before you want to- or need to- suck blood? How long before I start hexing everyone? Ladybug and Chat…have to show up."

Nino returned with Marinette's arm clenched in his teeth delicately. As Adrien helped Marinette put her arm back on, Alya reached out and curled her hand down the kitten's back. The cat purred almost sadly and Adrien sighed after a second of watching them.

"Alya we just…they aren't coming. We have to fix this ourselves."

The witch scowled at him. "And how do you propose we do that? We can't purify an akuma!"

"I can."

The group turned to look at Marinette, who had her head ducked and was fiddling with a screw on her wrist nervously. "Seriously, Marinette, that's not funny," Alya muttered. "We really need help."

"I know," Marinette promised, her voice wistful. "And I'm saying that…that Ladybug isn't coming. B-because I'm Ladybug. And my kwami is gone."

Adrien's face went sheet white at the word "kwami," but Alya just shook her head. "Girl, I think maybe you hit your head when you fell."

"She's right," Adrien admitted, slumping against the wall and pressing his hands to his forehead. "They're not coming. I'm…I'm Chat Noir. That cat? Used to be my kwami. I think when Clara cast her spell for everyone to become what they are, they turned into what they represented. And they don't have their magical qualities anymore."

Alya was staring at him in bewilderment, Marinette in utter disbelief, and Nino was sniffing around his and Marinette's feet and the cat, his ears twitching back and forth and nose wiggling curiously.

"Guys…"

Alya sounded unsure of herself now, fingers twisting in the end of her cape as she looked back and forth between the two of them. "You're…serious?" she finally whispered, face falling.

They both nodded, eyes on one another and studying each other silently. The cat- Plagg – purred sadly and butted his head against Alya's palm. Nino looked up from his sniffing to whine a confirmation, eyes startled but understanding.

Alya shuddered, looked around at the room full of people that were now patiently waiting on Ladybug and Chat Noir to show up, and shut her eyes tightly.

" _Shit._ "

* * *

Clara glared out at all of her fellow classmates, gaze tinted purple and hand clenching around her wand.

" _Good,_ " Hawkmoth cooed into her ear. " _Keep them there. Keep them calm. Eventually those who were Ladybug and Chat Noir will show themselves; then, then you can take their miraculous. And once you have them, you can do what you wish before turning everyone back._ "

Clara understood why she had to turn everyone back; she understood that the miraculous' wouldn't work if even the kwami things had been transformed. But she also knew that she wanted nothing more than to turn Chloe into a piece of sushi.

They had learned quickly that when she spoke she could get most of the boys (and some girls) to do whatever she wanted, being a siren, so the duct tape over her mouth had been a rapid development.

Now Chloe sat at her feet, getting wearier by the moment and her tail drying to a dusty yellow rather than the gold it had been in the beginning. She looked beyond pissed, but also scared, and this pleased Clara to no end.

Hawkmoth had made her feel powerful again. Had made her feel like she was in charge, and not this little blonde twit who walked around like her daddy was the king of the world. So of course she was going to help him out, because how could she not help the very man who had given her the power to give everything Chloe deserved to her?

She lifted herself off the floor further, smoke swirling under her boots and twisting up her body in a fog of purple. "Ladybug and Chat Noir!" she called out, her voice echoing through the gymnasium as everyone shut their mouths and turned to look at her. "I _know_ you're in here; I can feel it. We know you don't have your powers. We know you are useless. But if you do not turn in your miraculous' to me, you will see just what lengths I'm willing to go to in order to get them."

She lifted an arm and Chloe was picked up off the stage, the purple smoke cradling her and lifting her high above the gym floor. With an evil cackle, Clara squeezed her hand into a fist and the girl dropped like a stone.

Someone dressed as Superman dove from the crowd upon urging from his friends and grabbed the girl, looking like he didn't want to help Chloe even as he did it. Nevertheless, he set her on the floor and turned to Clara, still in the air with his cape billowing slightly behind him.

"Who's to say I can't stop you?" he boasted, crossing his arms over the S on his chest.

Clara snickered and with one flick of her wand, everyone in the room that was clearly dressed like a superhero, including those dressed as Ladybug and Chat Noir, was promptly turned into a stuffed animal. Button eyes blinked and paws patted down their sides, but their mouths were all stitched together and they couldn't scream. The guy who had been Superman dropped to the floor like a feather, his body now that of a plush rabbit who's button eyes glinted with irritation.

"That's what says you can't stop me," Clara chuckled, tapping her wand condescendingly against Former-Superman's head.

"Nobody can."


	3. Chapter 3

**Part Three! Happy Halloween everyone! I love, love, love this holiday and the response that I've gotten on this fic. You are all so wonderful!**

 **An Amber Pen: You, my friend, are very smart. Keep your eyes out.**

 **Yellow 14: Why do American's study European history? Or African history? It's because we learn about the world, not just where we live. Plus, America has had a lot of influence in more recent European history.**

 **AnamariaJovel: Thanks so much! And yeah, they have it pretty bad. But I don't know if I'd call it the WORST *evil grin***

 **C: It's originally Celtic, yes, but it's history in America is really interesting too, especially when you throw in the Salem witch trials. Thank you for mentioning it though!**

 **I don't own Miraculous Ladybug. CHRISTMAS SPECIAL THIS DECEMBER AND LIVE ACTION MOVIE IN 2019 CONFIRMED.**

* * *

" _That's what says you can't stop me," Clara chuckled, tapping her wand condescendingly against Former-Superman's head._

" _Nobody can."_

* * *

Marinette and Adrien watched as Alya paced back and forth, occasionally shooting glances at the two of them and then looking up at the stage in concern. Nino sat calmly at Adrien's feet, head tilted and tongue peeking out ever so slightly.

"Okay, so if you guys are Ladybug and Chat Noir, but you're not because these Kwami things that help you transform are useless, and everyone who is a superhero who might be able to help is now a fucking stuffed _animal_ -"

"Alya."

The girl stopped her pacing and looked up at Marinette, who was studying her with mild amusement. "What?"

"Breathe."

Alya scowled at her friend and crossed her arms over her chest. "Sorry I'm worried about everyone here being _stuck_ as their costumes for the rest of their lives!"

Adrien frowned, eyebrows furrowing. "Alya, we'll figure something out. You don't need to worry."

"And how do you propose we fix everything without your superpowers?" Alya asked, nose wrinkling as she sneered at them.

Marinette and Adrien looked at one another cautiously, then back at Alya. "Are you…feeling okay?" Marinette asked.

"I'm fucking fine," she snapped, her fingertips sparking as she spoke.

Marinette took a shaky step back and Adrien moved in front of her ever so slightly. It was only when Alya saw the hair on the back of Nino's neck rise that she unfroze from her trance and glanced down at her glowing fingertips, her mouth going dry.

"I'm..."

She trailed off, not sure how to proceed, clenched her fingers into her palm, and left the group silently, her floating broom dropping to the ground once she was out of range and startling Plagg from his cat nap.

Nino whined in the back of his throat, trotting in Alya's direction and then turning back in frustration to nose at Marinette's side.

"I know, Nino," Marinette murmured, resting a hand on his head. "Adrien, can you go talk to her? I don't think I can physically get there by myself."

Adrien nodded, grabbed Alya's broom from the floor, and left the gym, Plagg trotting after him. Marinette slid down the wall and onto the floor, careful to make sure her limbs didn't go flying across the room. Nino tucked himself against her side, shoulder's shifting as he got comfortable, and Marinette sighed, running her fingers through his fur without thinking.

"What's going on with her?"

Nino chuffed softly and Marinette glanced over at Clara, still hovering over the stage with an irritated look. Anger glinted in her eyes as she perused the crowd around her, and the purple butterfly around her eyes brightened for a few moments.

"And how are we supposed to fix this?"

* * *

"Alya?"

Adrien stayed cautious, knuckles hovering over the entrance to the girl's bathroom door and his forehead leaning against the wall next to it. "Are you okay?"

There was no response and the teen sighed, biting at his lower lip before remembering that fangs hurt like no other. "If you don't answer," he called, rubbing at his stinging mouth with one hand, "I'm coming in. And you know I don't want to do that."

The door creaked open slowly and Alya poked her head out, bloodshot eyes studying Adrien warily. "What?"

Adrien handed over her broom silently, eyebrows crinkling together. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know," she admitted softly, fingers playing with the hem of her sleeves. "I just…got so angry for a minute. I don't know why."

Adrien frowned and reached a hand out, tugging Alya out from inside the bathroom and pulling her into a hug. "It's okay," he murmured. "You'll be fine."

" _How_?" she demanded, her voice muffled against his shoulder. "Your Kwami's are useless, apparently, which means that until we either come up with some magical way to fix them or you turn over your jewelry, we're all stuck."

Adrien pulled back, holding her at arm's length and staring at her for a moment. "What did you say?"

Alya raised an eyebrow. "Give up your jewelry? You can't actually consider that, Adrien."

"No, no, I'm not," he assured her, dropping his arms and beginning to pace the hallway, Plagg trotting alongside him. "What you said, about fixing it magically."

"Yeah…?"

He grinned at her, fangs flashing in the dim hallway lighting. "So, you're dressed as a witch! Which means that right now, you _are_ magical, and you can totally fix this!"

Alya frowned, fingers tightening around her broomstick. "I don't know…I'm not really a witch, Adrien. I wouldn't even know where to start."

Adrien paused in his pacing. "Well…we'll help. There's got to be _something_ that we can use in this school. Like…I don't know, what do witches use? Spells? Potions?"

"Yeah," Alya murmured, eyebrows crinkling as she slid her hand down her broomstick and tilted it so that she could sit down onto it. "Let's go talk to Marinette. See if maybe she has any ideas."

Adrien agreed and they headed back for the gym, only to find Marinette sitting by herself and looking off towards the locker rooms. "Where's Nino?" Adrien asked in concern.

Marinette gave a grimace and fiddled with a screw on her knee. "I think he was getting ready to change back. His um…his bones kept shifting."

"I'll go check on him," Alya declared, setting her broomstick against the wall next to Marinette and starting for the locker room door.

Adrien grabbed her shoulder before she could go, eyes flickering between her and Marinette. "I think maybe you should wait here. We uh…we don't know if he'll be…you know… _dressed_ when he turns back."

Alya flushed a dark crimson and nodded immediately. Adrien instructed for Plagg to stay with them and then darted off, cape fluttering behind him as he ducked around students that had now become bored and were discussing whether or not Ladybug and Chat Noir really were powerless like Clara had said.

The locker room was dark when Adrien entered, but what he realized quickly was that even though he couldn't see, he could sense where everything was and was able to move around with absolutely no problem.

A soft grunt led him into the shower area, where he used his heightened senses to find and kneel next to Nino, who had positioned himself over one of the shower drains. Why, Adrien didn't know, but he could only assume that transforming from a wolf to a human wasn't comfortable.

"You good, buddy?" he asked in a low voice, reaching a hand out and settling a hand onto Nino's head.

He whined under him and pushed his hand away, and Adrien obliged, sitting down onto the floor cross legged and scooting back a little to give him some space. "Okay, man. Just…let me know if you need me."

Nino chuffed quietly and Adrien tuned out the following sounds of bones creaking and breaking, trying instead to think of ways in which Alya could fix Plagg and Tikki so that they could solve everything.

It was only when Nino shuddered and coughed, a human cough, that Adrien sat back up and reached out, hesitating ever so slightly with his hand in the air. "Nino?"

"Yeah?"

His voice was raspy and dry, and he was clearly out of breath, but Adrien couldn't help but smile at the sound of his voice. "Good to have you back man. Are you uh…do you…I mean-"

"Am I naked? No."

There was laughter in his voice, tired though he was, and Adrien laughed, finally putting his hand down on Nino's shoulder and rubbing it gently with his thumb. "Can you get up okay?"

Nino shivered under his touch and his head shook. "I um…I need a minute."

"Okay."

They sat silently for a moment, and after a few seconds Adrien frowned. "Dude, are you hurt?"

There was a shuffling sound, and Nino cursed softly. "Guess I caught my arm on the drain grate. Just a small cut though. How did you-?"

He trailed off and they both went silent, each of them knowing exactly how Adrien had known that Nino was bleeding. "Adrien, it's-"

"I'm gonna go."

Adrien was gone in an instant, the lack of footsteps indicating that he had become a bat and flown off, and Nino sighed, pressing his palms to his eyes and sighing deeply.

"Great."

When he returned to the gymnasium, limping in pain, Nino found Marinette and Alya talking excitedly, an old book they had probably gotten from the library cracked open on the floor between them. "What's up?"

"Nino!"

Alya leapt to her feet and practically tackled him in a hug, knocking the breath out of him. Nino caught Marinette's smirk before it turned into a look of confusion. "Where's Adrien?" she asked.

Alya pulled back quickly, face flushed, and her eyes searched the area. "Yeah, where'd he go?"

Nino's eyebrows furrowed and he looked back over his shoulder with a sigh. "I don't know," he admitted. "I turned back, accidentally scratched myself on the drain grates in the showers, and I guess he smelled blood and freaked."

Both girls winced and Plagg, who had been curled up on Marinette's lap, leapt out of it and trotted away. No one protested his leaving, now knowing he was more intelligent than all of them combined and was most likely looking for Adrien. Instead, Nino gestured to the book and raised a bushy eyebrow.

"What'cha got?"

Alya hefted the book into her arms and turned it around. "We went down to the library while you were doing what you were doing, and found this in with the texts from older civilizations. It's basically a list of different spells that were all transcribed at some point that people kept for historical purposes."

"We've been going through it to see if there was some spell that maybe Alya could use to turn Plagg and Tikki back to normal," Marinette interjected. "But the closest thing we could find was a spell to return an inanimate object to it's former being."

"Like a pencil back into a tree," Nino guessed. "Huh. Couldn't you just…make up a spell? It should work no matter what, right?"

"Have you ever seen _Halloweentown_?"

"Still," Marinette murmured. "It's worth a shot."

With a side glance at Clara, who was starting to grin evilly, Marinette pushed herself to her feet and leaned heavily on Alya's shoulder. "Let's go find Tikki."

* * *

Plagg found Adrien sitting silently on a window ledge three stories off the ground, a leg dangling over the edge and his fingers tugging at the cape around his shoulders. He purred softly and climbed into Adrien's lap, startling the boy a little.

"Jesus, Plagg. You're just as annoying now as when you can talk," he joked weakly.

Plagg gave him a look that made Adrien chuckle and he glanced out over the city. "I'm fine," he said, answering the unasked question. "A little…a little freaked."

The cat gave a soft chuff and nuzzled his arm, and Adrien allowed himself to scratch Plagg behind the ears. "I smelled Nino's blood and I…I wanted to _bite_ him. That's what's happening, isn't it?"

Plagg peeked up at him, bright green eyes blinking.

"We're…becoming more like what we're dressed as. It's why Alya got so mad, it's why I wanted to drink blood, why Nino transformed."

Plagg meowed sadly and Adrien sighed, pulling him closer. "Which is why Clara isn't rushing anything. Because eventually everyone will really believe that they are what they dressed as. I'll believe I'm really a vampire and Alya will believe she's a witch and Marinette…"

He trailed off and his fingers tightened in Plagg's fur. "Marinette will literally become a doll. And then the miraculous' will be so easy to get from us."

Plagg bobbed his head once and crawled from Adrien's grip, taking his cape in his teeth and pulling delicately at it, trying to get Adrien to come inside. The boy rolled his eyes and tugged the cape from Plagg's grip, effectively getting it away but also making the cat lose his balance and go tumbling from the ledge.

Adrien cursed and leapt after his companion, curling his fingers around the scruff of Plagg's neck and then instinctively flinging out a hand and slapping it against the wall. He came to a jolting halt, one that made him grimace in pain, and realized with a start that he was dangling by one hand from the side of the school.

"Shit," he grumbled, twisting his arm and settling Plagg down onto his shoulders. "It's getting stronger."

Plagg meowed and nipped at Adrien's ear. Adrien sighed, dropping the rest of the way to the ground and running around to the school entrance. "I know buddy. We gotta fix this. I hope Marinette and Alya came up with something."

His heels clacked at the tile floor once he was inside, and upon finding the gymnasium empty of his friends, he turned to check the kitchen next, promptly running into Mylene and nearly sending the poor girl to the ground.

"Woah, sorry!" he yelped, reaching a hand out to steady her.

"Watch where you're going!" the girl snapped, adjusting the princess tiara on her head. "Don't you _know_ who I _am?_ "

Adrien blinked in response, a feeling of dread settling in his stomach, and he looked around the room at the rest of his schoolmates.

Ivan was grumbling incoherently, his movements jerky and uncoordinated. Chloe looked awful, her tail flaking and her lips chapped to the point where they were peeling. The people who had been turned into stuffed animals were no longer moving, no longer blinking, and Adrien felt his heart rate-

Wait.

He froze, pressing two fingers to the side of his neck and shuddering.

He didn't have a pulse.

" _Fuck_ ," he hissed, spinning away from the still complaining Mylene and sprinting out of the gym. "We need to fix this now."

Plagg meowed in agreement and jumped from his shoulder, scampering ahead of Adrien and leading him to the kitchen. Upon entering, he sighed in relief, finding Marinette, Alya, and Nino all there.

His smile faded, however, when he saw how short Marinette had gotten since he had last seen her. Her skin had an almost wooden look to it, and her eyes were glassy. Alya was clearly fighting off whatever she was feeling, if the clenching fists was any indication.

Nino was the only one of the three of them who seemed mostly unaffected, and Adrien had a feeling that it was because, aside from the wolf aspect, werewolves were still at least half human and had consciences and morals.

"Guys?" he tried tentatively. "I um…I don't mean to freak anyone out, but-"

"We're forgetting who we are," Alya snapped over her shoulder at him. "I know, dumbass."

"Alya."

She shivered under Nino's touch and clenched her hands again. "Sorry, Adrien."

He shook his head and stepped over to them, holding Marinette steady by the elbow as he peeked over their shoulders at the tiny ladybug that was crawling around the counter top. Plagg leapt up onto the counter and gave a tiny whine, nosing at the bug anxiously. Marinette gave a tiny yelp, but when the bug purposefully fluttered onto Plagg's head, she couldn't help but smile.

"I guess Tikki's still…Tikki. Sorry for canning you," she chuckled.

The ladybug's wings fluttered and Adrien turned to Alya, searching her eyes. "Alya. We need you to do this. We know you can do this."

"I've been trying!" Alya yelled, her voice holding a hint of panic. "You think I don't want to solve this any more than you do? I'm turning into a bigger bitch than Chloe!"

"Not possible," Marinette protested. "You-"

She cut off abruptly and all three of them turned to look at her. She was struggling to speak, they could tell by the way she was glaring in the general direction of her mouth. And Adrien couldn't for the life of him figure out _why_ she couldn't speak.

"She didn't draw bolts and screws on her face," Nino realized in horror. "So she can't talk."

Marinette looked at Adrien, fear in her eyes, and he gripped her biceps gently. "Hey," he murmured, bending down until their foreheads touched. "You'll be okay. I promise. You're strong."

She looked at him like he was absolutely insane, and Adrien managed a closed mouth smile, hiding his fangs to keep her calm. "Have I ever steered you wrong, M'lady?"

The next look she gave him made him grin fully, fangs and all, and he turned back to Alya without saying anything else. "Alya. You got this."

She opened her mouth to respond and froze, eyebrows furrowing together in confusion. "Who…where…why…?"

Adrien swallowed and looked at Nino helplessly. The werewolf spun Alya to face him with no hesitation, hands staying firmly on her shoulders as he spoke. "Alya. Come on. I know you know the words. I know you can fix this. I know you can fix them. You know the words. You need to hold on for like, one more minute."

She squirmed under his grasp, ripping away and pressing her hands to her forehead. "It…hurts," she gasped out, fingernails digging into her scalp.

"I know," Nino murmured softly. "I know. But you can do this. I believe in you, Alya."

Alya shuddered and twisted to look at Plagg and Tikki, who were sitting patiently in front of her, Tikki on Plagg's nose and Plagg's tail curled tightly around his paws. " _Ab Ordinario animalium magicis, reversus est."_

The words meant nothing to the other three. But it wasn't the words that seemed to do the trick. It was the way Alya held her hands, like she was holding an offering. The way she twisted her wrists until her fingers, sparking gold and purple, brushed over the animals in front of her. The way the sparks turned to black and red and green, swirling under her palm and flowing over Plagg and Tikki like a shower of sparks. It was the way it got brighter and brighter, until finally everyone but Alya had looked away from the scene to shield their eyes.

And when it died down, Tikki and Plagg floated there, testing their limbs and antennae and tails to make sure they were fully functional.

And it was then that Adrien remembered that Marinette couldn't speak in order for Tikki to transform her.

Seeing the look of distress on his face, Tikki waved her paws at him and smiled warmly. "It's okay, Adrien," she promised. "I've had mute Ladybug's before. She just has to tap the earrings a couple times and the transformation will work. After that, she'll be able to speak just fine."

Adrien nodded and let go of Marinette, now at eye level with his torso, and gave Plagg and weak smile. "Plagg? Transform me."

Marinette tapped her earrings quickly, before she could fall, and within moments she was back to full height, her mouth opened and limbs working perfectly. Adrien still had his fangs, however, and he could still make out the faint scent of Nino's bandaged cut. He could only assume that, in their costumes, they could move and function like able bodied people.

"Won't Clara just turn you guys into something else?" Nino pointed out.

Alya shook her head, sinking to the ground and gripping at her hair as she did so. "No," she choked out. "Their magic…is really strong. She can't…transform them…because they're already transformed."

Nino knelt next to her, eyes glittering with concern, and looked up at the heroes in front of him. "Go ahead," he assured them. "I've got her."

* * *

From there, it was a matter of getting Clara's wand from her grip, something that was done easily with taunting and a little bit of sneaky black cat/bat action. Basically, Adrien discovered that, even as Chat Noir, he still had all of his vampire abilities, so one bat transformation and dive later, he held Clara's sparkling wand in his mouth and was handing it over to Ladybug in seconds, wings flapping to keep him afloat.

She snapped it with ease, a sadistic sort of glee in her eyes, caught the butterfly to purify, and then chucked the pieces in the air with a cry of "Miraculous Ladybug!"

Adrien yelped as he turned back into Chat Noir, crashing to the floor as ungracefully as one could. When he ran his tongue over his teeth, he found that his fangs hand vanished completely, and his pulse was back as strong as ever. Marinette was grinning behind her mask, rubbing at her elbows, and everyone in the room was slowly getting up from where they had been thrown or tossed. A few students who had been flying animals were now either stuck in the rafters or had fallen from the air the moment they turned back, which was something they hadn't thought of.

Clara herself still stood in the middle of the stage, her eyes wide and filled with confusion. "What…happened?"

Ladybug stepped over to her as Chat picked himself off the ground, a small smile on her face. "Nothing you could control. You were going to announce the winners of the costume contest."

Clara blinked a few times, looking around at the students in the gym, and winced. "I got akumatized, didn't I?"

"Yeah," Chat confirmed, moving to stand next to Ladybug. "But it's okay. You weren't in control. We know that. Everyone here knows that. You're good."

Clara nodded slowly and Chat and Ladybug turned to look at one another, eyes roving the others form and studying it. "Alya and Nino?" Ladybug suggested quietly.

Chat nodded and they left the gym, turning back to their Halloween costumed selves in the hallway and running for the kitchen together, tucking Tikki and Plagg inside their clothing before barging in. It was a good call, as they found Alya helping Sabine off of the counter, her fake fairy wings bobbing and her fingers massaging her scalp. "What happened?" the woman was asking.

"Um…an akuma," Marinette answered, pushing through the group and giving her mother a tight squeeze. "We-"

"Have to let your dad out of the janitors closet!" Nino yelped, clapping a hand to his forehead and causing some fur to drift to the floor.

"You have to _what_?" Sabine demanded.

Marinette smiled sheepishly. "Um…dad was a bear? And so he like…started to _believe_ he was a bear…soooo we had to lock him in a closet so he wouldn't hurt anyone."

Sabine pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed deeply. "All right. The one in this hallway?"

They nodded and she left the kitchen instantly, leaving the four teenagers alone in a silence so awkward that they could feel it. "You did it," Adrien said around the fake fangs now in his mouth, looking over at Alya with admiration.

The girl flushed and glanced down. "Not really. It was just…a spell."

"Nope," piped up Tikki from Marinette's pocket, flying out and zooming over to Alya so that she could tweak her hair. "It wasn't just a spell."

"Pardon?"

"She's right," Plagg said, lounging casually on Adrien's shoulder in an effort to not stray too far from his person. "Spells don't work unless the people casting them actually want the spells to happen. And considering what a hard time you were having focusing because of what Clara did?"

"You're really the reason anyone is normal now," Tikki confirmed.

Alya ducked her head, a small smile on her cheeks. "Um…thanks."

"You know," Marinette said, a smirk on her cheeks. "They still haven't announced the costume contest winners."

Alya groaned and Nino grinned, grabbing her by the hand firmly. "We'll go check that out. I'm…."

He paused, glancing between the two of them. "I'm sure you guys have some things to discuss now that everything is back to normal. We'll be in the gym, getting Alya's prize."

"Nino!"

Ignoring her protests, Nino dragged her out the door, letting it swing shut behind them, and Marinette turned to Adrien nervously, fingers tugging at the edge of her pig-tails. "So…"

Adrien ran a hand over the back of his neck, swallowing and glancing up at the ceiling. "So," he repeated with a weak chuckle.

"Would you two just kiss already?"

"Plagg!"

"What?"

Marinette's face resembled a tomato when Adrien finally looked her in the eyes, a blush covering his own cheeks as Tikki tried to shut Plagg up. "Um…sorry about him. He's...obnoxious."

"I am not!"

Marinette managed a chuckle, rubbing her hands up and down her arms and glancing away from Adrien's gaze. "I…thank you. You know, for…supporting me. Literally and metaphorically," she quipped halfheartedly.

"I meant it, you know."

She looked over at him to find that he had stepped closer, Adam's apple bobbing as he reached out and settled a hand lightly at the curve of her jaw. "M-meant w-what?" she stammered, heart hammering in her chest.

"You're strong."

He said it like it was a fact he had always known, something that would never be incorrect, and Marinette shrugged under his touch. "I couldn't do _anything_ to help," she protested. "You figured out how to fix Tikki and Plagg, Alya actually fixed them, and Nino was there to support her the whole time."

"You had the worst luck out of all of us this time," Adrien said quietly, stepping still closer so that she had to tilt her face up to look at him. He pulled the fake fangs from his mouth before speaking again. "But you still managed to keep going, still stood your ground, still helped everyone out. You're the strongest person I know. Have I ever steered you wrong?"

She smiled at the repetition and shook her head. "All the time."

He chuckled and bent down. "Nah. And for once, Plagg's right."

"Hey!"

Ignoring the kwami, Adrien grinned. "I probably should kiss you."

Tikki clamped a hand over Plagg's mouth before he could make any kind of joke and they both grinned when the two heroes finally just shut up and kissed, Marinette's fingers tangling in Adrien's hair and Adrien's free hand sliding over her hip.

"Took long enough," Plagg muttered against Tikki's hand.

"Right?"

* * *

"Hey Nino?"

Nino turned away from the punch table and to Alya, who was holding a bouquet of roses in one hand and a gift card in the other, a tiny tiara on her head. "Yeah?"

"I'm…sorry. And thank you."

He frowned and set his punch down on the table, walking over to her and wrapping a tight arm around her shoulders. "Why?"

She ducked her head and frowned at the flowers in her hands. "I was such a jerk. And you were so patient. I'm sorry."

He shook his head and squeezed her tightly. "You couldn't help it. It was the akuma, not you Alya."

Seeing the look on her face, Nino grimaced and turned so that he was facing her. "You're not a jerk," he said, tugging a rose from the bouquet and studying it for a second before breaking the stem towards the top. "You're a beautiful human being who was under a spell that was really the only reason we're standing here right now having this conversation. You saved the day."

He tucked the flower over her ear and smiled gently, eyes glittering under his glasses.

When Marinette and Adrien walked in a minute later, hand in hand, they found Alya's winnings on the floor and Nino pulled up by the lapels of his jacket into a kiss that had made all the students nearby turn away.

"Geez, guys," Adrien teased. "PDA much?"

Alya flipped him off without ever letting up, only breaking the kiss when Nino started laughing at the exchange. "You wanna go, Agreste?"

Adrien wiggled his eyebrows. "On a double date?"

"Fucking hell, Adrien."

He chuckled and tugged Marinette closer, pressing a kiss to her temple and nodding to the dance floor. "There's still a half hour left of this thing," he reminded them. "You guys want to go dance?"

"I suck at dancing," Marinette protested.

"I don't! Come on!" Nino cheered, grabbing Marinette's hand and yanking her to the dance floor.

"Did your new boyfriend just steal my new girlfriend?" Adrien asked Alya incredulously.

The girl shook her head, laughing, and held out her hand. "Apparently. Want to go get them back?"

He grinned and took the hand with no hesitation, spinning the girl in a circle and leading her to join their laughing friends. "Absolutely."

* * *

 **Happy Halloween!**


End file.
